Posts Tagged ‘soccer’

The world of charity giving and service learning is ever-changing in schools. In the schools and districts I have worked in, the pendulum has swung back and forth between localized, very school-centric initiatives and global initiatives as part of a massive network of young people around the world.

My first memories of giving in schools is tied to UNICEF boxes at Halloween. The program, which was discontinued in Canada a decade ago, had children collect coins along with candy when they went out for Halloween. In today’s schools it is hard to find young people not familiar with WE Day, We Charity (formerly Free the Children) and their related entities. It has been an incredible model to watch grow. It has combined star power, amazing energy and a huge infrastructure and organization, to help engage young people in service learning and charity.

While my first memories are of the orange UNICEF boxes, and the WE opportunities are dominant in many schools, there have forever been and continue to be amazing smaller organizations doing thoughtful work, that are worth celebrating. I want to tell you about one of them – Freekicks.

It is a professional development day in West Vancouver and the local soccer fields are humming. When I get there the rain is coming down pretty good, but nobody really notices. The fields are full of elementary aged boys and girls playing soccer. The players have been assigned to represent a variety of nations for the day – from Canada to Cameroon.

The teams are made up from a cross-section of students from schools – the tournament features students from across West Vancouver, as well as from a number of inner-city schools in Vancouver. Of course, you would never know as all the students are wearing the same new uniforms. In talking with founder Adam Aziz and other organizers, I learn some of the students who came today had never been over the Lions Gate Bridge. Soccer is a vehicle to connect students – it is the “Spirit of Togetherness” that is being celebrated. There is no class system here, everyone has the same uniforms, the same pancake breakfast, the same lunches and the group is united around sport. Local businesses have come together to support the event, high school students were volunteering as coaches and officials, and already plans are in the works to make it bigger next year. What a great way to use the common language of soccer to bring young people together as teammates who may not normally ever connect – and realize just how much they have in common.

This wasn’t my first experience with Freekicks. I learned of them a couple years ago when our then-principal, Scott Wallace, invited me to visit Gleneagles Elementary School. And what I saw was pretty amazing:

Two inspired soccer players Lucas & Trevor Robertson started their own Freekicks Academy in their local community. They were inspired by what Freekicks had achieved and wanted to be a part of the team. Their vision is to help other kids play soccer. The boys started in the backyard of their home, they set-up drills, exercises and created activities and sessions for the local players in their neighborhood. They have raised over $850 to date through raffles and donations to support children around the world. (Source)

We need organizations like UNICEF, the United Way, WE, and others who tackle changes on a large scale across our communities and around the world. And we also need to celebrate all of the organizations like Freekicks and the power that one person, or a group of people with a big idea can make a positive dent in our world.

We need to foster these opportunities – built often around individual passions and a commitment to make change. As Freekicks shows, and as we see all the time, Margaret Mead is continually proven correct, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

It is hard to believe that one of the key tasks of January is to begin promoting our program offerings in our schools next September. This past month, our Board approved a series of new secondary school courses and programs. It is exciting to see a culture of innovation come to life in the program offerings that teachers, principals and schools are bringing forward – I absolutely love the passion-based offerings for students.

We have been offering academy programs for just over a decade. It started with hockey and soccer. For many years, students interested in a particular academy program would have to transfer to one of our high schools to participate. We have changed this over time.

About four years ago, we began to talk about the idea of “one district, three campuses”. This is based on the principle that students should be able to attend their local secondary school with their friends, but have access to programs for part of their schedule at another site. It has not been a simple move. There have been logistics to overcome – calendars had to be aligned so high schools all had the same professional development days. Timetables also had to be coordinated. In our case, we now have timetables at each of our high schools where the blocks in the morning rotate and the afternoon blocks are fixed. So students have the same last period class each day. This allows us to bring together students from multiple sites each day in the afternoon.

Our school schedules are built so students can complete core areas in the morning, and if interested, pursue specialty programming in the afternoon.

This coming year we now have 10 different academy-style programs open to students from all schools. We continue to be strong with sports – offering academy programming in soccer, hockey, basketball, baseball, rugby, field hockey, and tennis. We have also now added mechatronics robotics and dance for next year. The majority of these programs occur in the afternoon, with some classes before school and on weekends. In addition to these programs we have several courses that are open to students from all schools – YELL (an entrepreneurship program that runs after school and partners students with business leaders in the community, FAST (First Aid Swim Training, where students earn credentialing towards becoming a lifeguard) and a District Honour Choir (that practices in the evening and performs locally and beyond). In Art West 45 students can attend their own high school one day and every other day participate in a program that allows those passionate about arts to get extended time in this area. It is the same principle for ACE-IT Carpentry where students attend the program every other day working towards their Level 1 carpentry credential.

In all we are now at about 15 and growing in the number of options we have available that allow students to pursue their passions as part of their school program – coming together with students from across the district who share these interests.

There is wonderful value in students attending their local school but we also need to find creative ways for students to pursue their passions. Five years ago none of the programs existed that would allow students from a variety of schools to attend. Now they are part of our culture. A culture where talented teachers share their passions with students who are thirsty to pursue these areas.

I am not sure that what we are doing is transforming our system. I can hear my friend Yong Zhao in my ear that we are maximizing the current system and not changing the system. We are continuing to find ways for students to pursue their passions which is all part of building a system that is relevent, connected and engaging for our learners.

Some of the same thinking leading education transformation in our schools is also changing the thinking around community and school sports. Debates over keeping score at a soccer game with 10-year-olds are similar to discussions on whether we should be giving Grade 4 students letter grades. And, seemingly, there is a growing movement to move past the era of the uber-zealous sports parent.

A recent column from Lawrie Johns, Sport Parents Must Have Realistic Expectations is an excellent read. Of course, Lawrie has a lot of credibility on this topic with me. Both his boys, now in their early 30s, are very well-adjusted young men, and I had the opportunity to teach and coach a little bit of basketball to his younger son, Brian, who also represented Canada at the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympics in swimming. This dad knows what it is like to raise a child who has become an elite athlete. Lawrie advises:

Some suggestions for parents: No after practice/game interrogation. Understand the rules of the sport – leave the officiating to trained officials – better still – become one! Cheer on efforts BY ALL not just yours. Learn about sport nutrition and hydration. Learn about injuries – they are part of sport (unfortunately) but how to support the athlete though an injury is crucial.

Lastly – Have Fun!

It makes sense that parents need to be educated partners in their child’s sports, as in their child’s schooling. Another great source for information along the same theme is the Steve Nash Youth Basketball Coaches Blog. To quote a recent post:

Those five words – “the courage to be patient” – give a picture of the great potential . . . and at the same time highlight the problems that exist in the reality of an ultra-competitive youth sports environment. More specifically, having the “courage to be patient” seems to involve doing four very difficult things, and the failure to do any one of these four things (resisting external pressure, controlling internal desire, being a great teacher, maintaining faith) may explain the disconnect between potential and reality.

So, as families head back to the soccer fields and hockey rinks in the community, to the cross-country races, school volleyball courts and football fields in the fall, hopefully, times are indeed changing. Competition is awesome! But we know better than even a decade ago about how to ensure our kids have good experiences that will last a lifetime and not be burned out or turned off of sports by age 12. Lawrie’s column offers this perspective:

There are about 750 NHLers today out of hundreds of thousands boys playing hockey in this country.

There were 31 swimmers on the national team in London – out of over 100,000 who compete through clubs in Canada. There were 12 on the women’s Olympic basketball team – over 150,000 girls play basketball. Eighteen players on our bronze medal women’s soccer team – over 500,000 girls play youth soccer.

In sports, like in the classroom, we want our kids to work toward big dreams, but we also want some perspective. I have a great passion for sports. School sports adds richness to the culture of our schools; community sports bring people together and we (parents and kids) learn wonderful lessons through our participation.

We need to ensure that sports are not overrun by a culture of early specialization, private elite programs and self-focused athletes and parents who instill an NHL or Bust attitude in our programs. We need to reverse the trend of fewer young people participating in organized sports and to also ensure we have opportunities for kids, with varied sport skills, to continue playing. We want our passionate athletic sons and daughters not to lose their passion about their sport as they get older.

There is nothing quite like the fun of sports — that is the whole point of it. As Tim Elmore suggested in a recent post, the most powerful six words we can say to a child involved in sports, ” I love to watch you play.”